The Meaning of the Number Ten in the Bible—Part 2

Introduction and Review

The number ten in the Bible refers to themes centered on God's commands and humans' responsibility to obey and honor them. It also links with the concept of testing in terms of obedience to God's expressed will and ways. When the number ten appears in Scripture, we will most often find the words command, test, or both very near in the story.

The first part of this series explored how the number ten categorizes themes of obedience to God's commands in the lives of Abraham and Noah.

This second installment will study how the concepts of marriage express the covenantal aspect represented by the number ten.

Rebekah passes the test, fulfilling the signs that Eliezer asked for.
Alexander Cabarel 1883

Eliezer's Test in Marital Agreement Terms

Abraham sent his servant, Eliezer, back to his home country to find a wife for his son, Isaac. Abraham made Eliezer swear that he would not take a wife from the Canaanites but would return to Abraham's family and obtain one. This agreement was pretty serious on both ends. Abraham made Eliezer swear by the God of heaven and earth that he would fulfill this obligation. Throughout the narrative, Eliezer seems quite concerned about fulfilling his requirement accurately.

The first thing Eliezer does is load ten camels with all kinds of provisions for the journey. Getting to the right place and meeting the right people was a test. Eliezer consulted the God of Abraham in every decision along the way. The Lord leads him to a specific well that just so happens to be where he meets Rebekah, a member of Abraham's family. She fulfilled the signs that Eliezer had asked God for to be sure she was the right gal.

And he said, "O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, 'Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this, I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master."

— Genesis 24:12-14

His proposal on behalf of Isaac included bracelets weighing ten shekels of gold. Eliezer gave Rebekah the gifts, and the agreement was made. After Eliezer secured the arrangement, he wanted to return immediately to complete his mission and fulfill his obligation to present a wife to Isaac. But there was a quick test before they went. Rebekah's mother and brother, Laban, requested that she stay with them for a "few" days or maybe even ten. Eliezer begged for no delay. He wanted to complete the obligation that he had promised.

“Do not delay me since Yahweh has made my way successful. Send me away that I may go to my master.”
— Genesis 24:56

They asked Rebekah what she wanted to do, and she agreed to go immediately. She represents the believer who obeys and does not hesitate at the call of Christ to forsake the world for a new life with Him. They bless her as she leaves with the following blessing.

“May you, our sister,
Become thousands of ten thousands,
And may your seed possess
The gate of those who hate him.”

— Genesis 24:60

Marital agreements are linked with the theme of number ten uses.

Jacob confronts Laban concerning the fulfillment of his obligations and his right to leave.
Jan Steen

Jacob's Test and Marital Agreements

The previous marital agreement and obligation linked with the number ten continue in the life of Isaac and Rebekah's son, Jacob. Isaac didn't make plans for wives for his two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau married a Canaanite woman, and Jacob had not yet married. Through a messy contest for birthright and blessing between Esau and Jacob, in which Jacob secures both, Rebekah is compelled to send Jacob away to her relatives to ensure a wife and save his life. To make a very long story short, Jacob worked 14 years for two wives because Laban tricked him by giving him the older sister of the woman he had initially agreed upon. He then worked another six years to secure enough income to return home. Jacob decided to leave secretly to avoid resistance from Laban. Jacob made it clear that he had followed all the obligations of his agreement for both wives, even though Laban cheated him by changing his wages ten times. The "ten times" note is made twice: once when he convinces his wives to leave with him, and once when he confronts Laban. The following is his rehearsal of fulfilled obligations to Laban.

So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock, and said to them, "I see your father's countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before; but the God of my father has been with me. And you know that with all my might I have served your father. Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me.
— Genesis 31:4-7
These twenty (10 x 2) years I have been in your house, I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the dread of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, so He rendered the decision last night."
— Genesis 31:41-42

The link between obedience to God and His ways, with God's presence and protection, is also discovered in the story of Balaam's attempt to curse Israel.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him,

— Numbers 23:19-21

The left image is the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. The image on the right is a Ketubah |

The Ten Commandments as a Marital Agreement

The Ten Commandments noted in Exodus chapter twenty were given to God's people on Mount Sinai during their wilderness journey to the promised land. The agreement format was like a marital covenant document known to the ancient Hebrews as a Ketubah. According to Wikipedia, the Ketubah outlined the rights and responsibilities of the groom toward the bride.

As the groom, God promised His people protection, provision, and a promised land. God's rights to this agreement included faithfulness and loyalty from His people. Faithfulness and loyalty were to be exhibited through obedience to His commands.

The Scriptures inform us that there were two tablets inscribed with the commandments. It is often imagined that there were five commands on each. There is, however, another possibility that illustrates the covenant aspect of these commands. All ten could have been recorded on each tablet, thereby serving as copies of the agreement—one for God and one for His people.

The phrase "Ten Commandments" should actually read "Ten Sayings," as in its Hebrew rendering, which makes an interesting connection with the first ten sayings of God in Genesis chapter one. Just as the Ten Sayings bring order and function to the created world, so do the Ten Sayings given in the wilderness bring order and function to God's people when they obey Him.

Then God spoke all these words, saying,

I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male slave or his female slave or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Commands three, four, and five express the calamity or disobedience and the benefit of obedience aspects of the number ten.

Boaz gathers ten men at the city gate to secure the deal by which he obligates himself as a kinsman redeemer to Ruth under Levirate marriage laws.
Hendrick Golzius

Ruth's Marital Link With the Number Ten

Ruth also illustrates the link between marital obligation and the number ten. The story begins with Naomi dwelling in Moab for ten years because of a famine in her homeland.

Now it happened in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab with his wife and his two sons ... And they lived there about ten years.
— Ruth 1:1,4

The ten years represented a test failure, like Abraham's going to Egypt during a famine. Naomi's daughter-in-law, Ruth, a Moabitess, faithfully follows Ruth home and takes responsibility for her care. Through her seeking food for both of them, Ruth meets Boaz, a wealthy landowner who is also eligible to secure their future through marriage. Boaz gathered ten men of the city at the gate where legal obligations were settled, and he presented his case for eligibility to marry Ruth under Levirate marriage laws. He secured the deal, and they all lived happily ever after.

The story of Ruth ends with a genealogy of ten people that leads to the future King David. Ruth's faithfulness and loyalty to God and her mother-in-law opened the door of opportunity for the provision and the honor of being part of the Messianic line of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

As with the ten men at the gate with Boaz, in Judaism, ten men are required to form a Minyan, a group of men who fulfill certain religious obligations. Less than ten is not acceptable. This is interesting in light of both the Noah and Lot Narratives. Less than ten people were found righteous enough to board the ark when God destroyed the earth by a flood. Noah, his sons, and their wives were the only eight survivors.

Similarly, in the Lot narrative, God told Abraham that He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, where Lot and his family lived. Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city for the sake of at least ten righteous people. Such was not found. There were eight potential survivors, but four didn't leave and were destroyed along with the city.

In light of this theme of marital obligation and agreement, we can see that when God gave His commandments to His people at Mount Sinai, He expressed them in terms of a marital covenant. The Ten Commandments were Israel's engagement agreements with God. God promised to love and care for His people and asked them to be faithful and loyal to love Him and each other.